We're moving to JR next week! Best advice?
Ning To Jamroom
Great decision! I moved in June from Ning to Jamroom.
No matter how smooth the import goes, there will still be lots of work to do!
I suggest keeping a notebook of 'stuff' you have to do. Then for my moderators, I have a Private Group and I created a New Site Questions and issues thread there for us privately. I also created a list for their eyes only of things I would be or am currently working on to tweak or finetune or look into...and they can suggest their own wishes too. Then for the general members I have another New Site Questions forum, in which I had already started threads on anticipated member questions and subjects, such as "Following", or "Private Messaging questions".
I suggest that you don't shut down your ning immediately after migrating. You may need to go back and get something possibly left behind (I didn't, but one never knows). I kept mine paid up for one month after migrating, and I used it as a pointer to force stragglers to the new site.
Expect a certain amount of member distress and confusion, because they'll need to do things and navigate in slightly different ways. For example to add a video they need to do it from their profile page, not from a general video module say on the Main site page. They'll need to send a private message from a drop down menu option under their OWN name, not by going to the other person's profile page to send them a message. Stuff like that will be different for them. Reassure your members that they will get used to the new ways after a little while of using the site. My members are mostly seniors, and they were able to slowly get used to the new stuff.
One other thing- realize that you can customize the message in the auto-send emails that go out with temporary passwords. The initial wave you send out to all members will get 'most' of your members coming to the new site, but there will be a bunch who don't follow the trail for one reason or another. You'll want to send that password email reminder out several times- each time it will ONLY go out to the folks who have not yet logged in, and each time you can edit the message a little if needed. And there will be members who write you that they cannot seem to log in (for whatever reason)- be prepared to help them by setting a new password for them YOURSELF in their profile page Account TAB, and then sending it to them with instructions to log in. But thankfully in most cases the auto-generated email seems to work fine.
Finally, you can see who has indeed logged in and who has not yet, by looking in your User Account Browser, under your ACP menu. You can sort those columns in certain ways as well, depending on what info you are wanting.
All will be well when the dust settles!
Try to enjoy the exciting spirit of Moving Day with your members. My members and I looked at it like we were packing up our 'wagon train' and heading over the prairie into the New Frontier. That scenario felt fun and everyone talked about seeing each other 'on the other side'.
